🌍 World Alive

New Orleans — UN urban centre

258,413

New Orleans: 258,413 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #2,257 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 6845; territory: United States (USA). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 29.9527, -90.0703. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975429,919Estimate
1980495,247Estimate
1985483,805Estimate
1990468,995Estimate
1995447,121Estimate
2000418,280Estimate
2005324,912Estimate
2010242,791Estimate
2015244,987Estimate
2020258,568Estimate
2025258,413Estimate
2030258,655Projection
2035259,422Projection
2040259,682Projection
2045260,091Projection
2050259,701Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

What changed during your lifetime?

Turn these figures into a private, five-scene personal world story.

Use this source record with the right definition

This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.